And over the years I came to the realization that arguing is a waste of time. Once someone made up their mind it is almost impossible to change their opinion.

You could waste hours and hours and hours of your life looking up points, debating and getting angry about the other person – especially if it is an emotional topic you are arguing about. It doesn´t make sense to waste all this precious time for nothing.

But the willingness to keep arguing is still inside of me. Whenever a debate comes up I am very tempted to join and to voice my opinion. Sometimes I am even provoked to tell the world what I think about a topic just to start an argument.

For example, there are several anti-vaxxers in my family and they are very emotional about the whole topic. They also know that I am sporadically making fun of anti-vaxxers. Their arguments contradict each other and nothing of their conspiracy theory makes sense at all.

In the past we used to get involved into heated debates about how not vaccinating children can become dangerous for themselves and everybody around them. After the arguments I was usually tired and angry.

I have found a better way to avoid time-consuming and pointless debates. Whenever someone tries to provoke me with their statement I just answer “Okay.”

I do not agree with them. I do not point out how dumb I think they are. I just say “Okay” in a neutral tone. This word can literally mean anything from “I agree with you,” over “I acknowledged your opinion,” to “Kiss my ass, you dumb fuck.”

You can not argue against someone who just answers with “Okay.” You would feel dumb within three seconds.

This strategy works especially well online. I LOVE answering to 300+ words of provocation with just “Okay,” not revealing if I have even read the whole thing. It is even funnier if the person who tried to start the debate types pages and pages of hate in their rage and just gets another “Okay” back.

Bottom line: If you argue with someone or not doesn´t make any difference. You can not change other people´s believes.